Deflate-Gate

Let each team
apply pressure

Why not let each team choose their own inflation of a standardized football? Why have a rule that makes footballs harder to handle in certain conditions?

Let’s bring out the best of the sport, as in catching passes and not fumbling in inclement conditions.

And while we’re evaluating football, why have a championship game’s outcome hinge on the flip of a coin? Baseball solved that dilemma by allowing equal innings until victory?

— Ed Crouch, Seattle

Soft ball helps
more than QB

A lot of attention paid to Tom Brady’s possible advantage using under-inflated footballs. But doesn’t it go much further? Isn’t a softer ball easier to cradle and retain in the hands of a running back? Wouldn’t it be easier to catch and secure? Rather than just being a minuscule assist to the passer, wouldn’t the advantage extend to every single offensive play?

— Win Anderson

Penalize Patriots
7 points Sunday

To penalize the Patriots alleged football deflation incident, the NFL could handicap the final score from the Patriots by seven points . The Seahawks won’t need it, but the Patriots should suffer such a penalty.

— Earl Reilly, Seattle

Seahawk comeback

Seahawks running back Marshawn Lynch scores on a 24-yard touchdown run in the fourth quarter against Green Bay.Dean Rutz / Seattle Times staff

Win over Packers
transcends sports

Every once in a while, we see something that transcends sports. We see in the grace and fury of athletic competition a similitude of life that can be incorporated into our own pursuits.

Those who watched the Seahawks’ come-from-behind win over the Green Bay Packers in the NFC Championship Game bore witness to such an event. Much will be written and said about the Occidental Miracle in the coming years. By more or less equal parts perseverance and providence, the Seahawks turned a poorly played game into a victory for the history books.

The Seahawks may not win Super Bowl XLIX, but what they’ve given themselves and their fans is more precious than the Lombardi Trophy.

— Brian Cutler, Seattle

Wilson sends
message of belief

Hooray for Russell Wilson and the Seahawks for demonstrating mental toughness in both the game of football and in life as they prevailed over the Green Bay Packers in an incredible come-from-behind. Their message of hope and belief translates easily to life.

We all fall down, but a champion gets back up again, time after time. We all experience overwhelming odds, but to reach the goal we have to keep believing success is possible.

— Cindy Boose, Bellingham

Lots of parallels
with ‘86 Mets

The emotional roller coaster from despair to elation of the Seahawk/Packer game reminded me of Game 6 of the 1986 World Series between the Red Sox and Mets. There are a lot of parallels:

• Both games involved the visiting team blowing a sure victory at the end

• Both losing coaches (McNamara and McCarthy) were sharply criticized for how they managed the game and both last names start with Mc.

• Both involved improbable bobbling of balls (Bill Buckner through his legs and BrandonBostick through his hands) with initials BB.

• Both moments still required an additional victory against a team from Boston to win the World Championship (the Mets 2 days later in Game 7 and the Super Bowl for the Seahawks)

— Matt Gordon, Mercer Island

Rodgers’ comments
show lack of class

I have always viewed Aaron Rodgers as a class act, but his comments after Sunday’s NFC championship game have changed that forever. Rather than commend the world champs for their marvelous and hard-fought victor, he said, “we (Packers) were the better team today and we gave it away.”

Wake up, Rodgers! You were beaten by the better team, and being graceless about it only highlights your lack of class.

— Jim Tomisser, Des Moines

Miracle headline
is insulting

Was confidence in a successful outcome beginning to wane for fans? Absolutely. But to refer to the last three minutes as a “miracle” is the height of disrespect for the Seahawks team who have spent untold hours thinking, exercising, practicing so when the time is right the team can execute.

— Richard L. Baron, Seattle

Fan can’t take
much more

Talk about rising from the dead. While the Packers, the experts and many disillusioned Seahawk fans (including me) were shoveling dirt onto the grave of the Hawks, all of the sudden the dirt flew off the coffin and the Hawks came back to life. Our hearts cannot take too many more of these miracle comebacks!

— Paul Parker Jr., Neah Bay

Marshawn Lynch

NFL owes
this man money

The NFL owes Marshawn Lynch all the money they penalized him as well as $1 million in damages for his outstanding performance in the NFC Championship Game on Sunday. Marshawn’s efforts, on and off the field, brought more positive attention and money to the NFL than all the league rules about media interviews.

Marshawn is every mother’s child, and we are so very proud of him.

— Margaret Birdsall, Seattle

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Want to be a reader contributor to The Seattle Times’ Take 2 blog? Email your original, previously unpublished work or proposal to Sports Editor Don Shelton at dshelton@seattletimes.com or sports@seattletimes.com. Not all submissions can be published. Opinions expressed are those of authors, and The Times reserves the right to edit and publish any submissions online and/or in print.

Have something to say?

Want to be a reader contributor to The Seattle Times’ Take 2 blog? Email your original, previously unpublished work or proposal to Sports Editor Don Shelton at dshelton@seattletimes.com or sports@seattletimes.com. Not all submissions can be published. The Times reserves the right to edit and publish any submissions online and/or in print.